With the know-how (competence) and the quality of the product or service, social skills (attitude) are an essential component of what I call the “Holy Trinity” of customer experience.
Social skills, such as the initial greeting, eye contact and smile, create the first contact with the customer.
For years, smiling has been the subject of several studies by academics working in the departments of psychology and marketing. Here is an overview of the papers I read recently (see references at the end).
Facts
Smiling is not a trivial gesture. Smiling is universally perceived as an intention to cooperate and interact. It creates a trusting interaction between two strangers, an essential, first dimension to any relationship, whether personal or business.
Smiling transcends cultural differences, gender and age. It is, in a way, the universal language of human interaction. Smiling is also interpreted as a sign of friendship, generosity and altruism. Did you know that humans have the ability to remotely recognize a smiling face more than any other facial expression?
Smiling increases a person’s perception of sincerity, sociability and competence, regardless of its beauty. Smiling provokes pleasure in the one who receives a smile and the one who gives a smile. Smiling people become in a better mood.
In 1988, Fritz Strack and his colleagues published a study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. As part of an experiment, researchers found that participants found cartoons to be much more fun after holding a pencil in their mouths to force a rictus. Fascinating!
Naturally, customers will favor a person who seems happy and is smiling—rather than another who is in a grumpy mood or looks stone-faced bored.
Smiling is also contagious. A smiling employee brings happiness to the customer—through a documented effect of mimicry—that continues beyond the interaction.
Smiling provokes a positive feeling of well-being among customers. This encourages them to spend more time in the store, contributing to more immediate and future purchases.
A smiling restaurant waiter gets more tips than an employee with a bland or moody face.
Beware of fake smiles
A fake, forced, unnatural smile can taint the customer experience. The famous smile of Sheldon Cooper’s character in the sitcom The Big Bang Theory is the perfect example. Stay away from the Sheldon “smile.”
This means you have to carefully recruit any person who will interact with your clientele. After all, he or she will be the first ambassador of your brand or company. A usually grumpy employee should work in the back store, not facing customers.
That said, ensure that employees are trained properly. An employee who knows the details about products and services is happier and offers a better service. It is easier for an employee to be relaxed and smiling when he or she is in control.
Managers are also responsible for providing a pleasant work environment for their employees. Employee experience is vital to the customer experience. Happy employees make happy customers. Period.
Smiling employees significantly influence the level of happiness of customers. And this happiness is the greatest predictor of customer satisfaction that leads to increased buying and long-time loyalty.
A satisfied customer is more tempted to return to a business, restaurant, café, hotel, etc. where he or she was greeted well and served with a smile. It just makes sense!
References
- Aureliano-Silva, L. (2018) How Much Is a Smile Worth? The Effect of Smiling Faces in Food Retail Stores. RACE 2018, 17, pp. 841-850.
- Otterbring, T. (2017). Smile for a while: the effect of employee-displayed smiling on customer affect and satisfaction. Journal of Service Management, 28(2), pp. 284-304.
- Strack. F., Martin, L. and Stepper, S. (1988). Inhibiting and Facilitating Conditions of the Human Smile: A Nonobtrusive Test of the Facial Feedback Hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 54(5), pp. 768-77.
Originally published on Les Affaires blog – © Daniel Lafrenière – All rights reserved